UN calls for urgent aid delivery to Gaza as winter deepens humanitarian crisis

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The UN on Friday called for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, emphasizing the dire conditions of over half a million Palestinians as winter approaches.

"As winter sets in, some 545,000 people in Gaza are living in damaged buildings and makeshift shelters, underscoring the urgency of ensuring that thousands of tarpaulins and repair materials can be safely brought into the Strip without delay," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric during a news conference.

Citing the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Dujarric further reported that 50 of its trucks carrying critical supplies, which include blankets, generators, medicines, and surgical equipment, have been stuck at the Egyptian border for weeks.

Israel has the control for all entry of goods into the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing at Palestinian-Egyptian border.

"Many of these trucks have been delayed for more than 50 days," Dujarric said, adding that the UN and its partners "continue to call for the safe passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza as suffering deepens across the Strip."

Separately, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) head Catherine Russell said: "Nearly one million children in Gaza are facing another winter without basic shelter, food, water and protection."

"The suffering of all children caught in this nightmare must stop," she urged, stressing that "children need a ceasefire. Now."

Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in October last year, killing more than 44,400 people, most of them women and children, and injuring over 105,000.

The second year of the genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.

On Nov. 21, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.